Cuban Rocker Fined And Freed

Gorki Aguila, a Cuban rock singer known for song lyrics that poke fun at his country’s communist government, was fined roughly $28 by a Cuban court and freed after facing a charge of social dangerousness August 29.

Aguila heads up Porno Para Ricardo, a group banned from the country’s airwaves. He was arrested August 25, reportedly soon after his band wrapped up work on a new album.

Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, spoke out against Aguila’s arrest before the trial.

“In our view, he has committed no crime,” Sanchez told the Miami Herald. “The government is furious, because he composed about 12 to 15 songs which they consider disrespectful or irreverent. They ridicule both Fidel Castro and his brother.”

The trial was reportedly closed to the public and international media and went uncovered by Cuban news media.

Aguila could have received as many as four years in prison if convicted on the social dangerousness charge, which is apparently defined by the government as violating communist morality.